The Courier-Wedge in Durand recently celebrated 160 years in business, according to an item published in its Jan. 30, 2025 issue.
A historical sketch of the newspaper appeared in the Nov. 28, 2019 issue of the Courier Wedge. At that time Valley Publications (GMD Media, MD Media and Stumpf Publishing) held a family of publications including 10 weekly newspapers: The Courier-Wedge, Mondovi Herald, Osseo Tri-County News, Augusta Area Times, Wabasha County Herald, Cochrane -Fountain City Recorder, Buffalo County Journal, Lewiston Journal, The Plainview News and St. Charles Press; and, two weekly advertisers, The Star Shopper and Tri County Advertiser.
The Stumpf family had been in the newspaper business since 1969, when patriarch Gary purchased the Wabasha County Herald. Gary Stumpf with the partnership of his sons Mike and Dan, continued to buy up local papers and at one time owned 15 unique publications.
To remain viable during the COVID-19 pandemic changes were made. Beginning on August 6, 2020 Buffalo Counties three weekly newspapers (Mondovi-Herald News, Buffalo County Journal and Cochrane-Fountain City Recorder) merged into one newspaper under the mast head The Buffalo County News.
Mike Stumpf, Media One owner and publisher of the three newspapers, said in the announcement that discussions regarding a potential merger began three years ago. In January 2020, Michael A Stumpf announced that he was now the sole proprietor of the following newspapers and advertisers; The Courier-Wedge, The Buffalo County News and The Tri County Area Times and the Star Shopper all serving the west coast of Wisconsin; and in Minnesota, The Wabasha County Herald, The Plainview News, The St. Charles Press-Lewiston Journal and the Tri-County Advertiser.
Six months later the Osseo Tri-County News and the Augusta Area Times consolidated officially on Feb. 1, 2021 to create The Tri-County Area Times. The Tri-County News had been publishing out of Osseo since 1912 and Augusta Area Times had been in operation since 1964. Heartache hit in the spring of 2024 when the Star-Shopper was officially removed from the presses.
